Noble County Job and Family Services believes that all children have an absolute right to a safe, permanent, stable home. We work with families to prevent children from being removed from their home. Foster, adoptive and kinship families are needed when children are not able to remain in their parent’s home. Many times, children live in foster or kinship homes for a short time while social workers work with their family to address areas of concern. Other times, adoptive families are needed to provide children with permanent homes.

Foster Care

The primary responsibility of Noble County Job and Family Services (NCJFS), Children Services is to keep families together. However when children’s needs for physical, emotional, and social growth are not being met, NCJFS Children Services may intervene and the children may have to be placed with a foster family. Foster families work with NCJFS Children Services to ensure the children’s needs are being met while the child’s family takes the necessary steps to ensure the child’s safety and wellbeing. Foster care is intended as a temporary situation. The primary goal of foster care is to reunite families or ensure the child will leave foster care for a permanent placement.

Foster parents are needed to provide temporary homes and care for children who are unable to live in their own homes due to substantial risk of abuse or neglect. Foster children range in age from birth to 18 and in some cases up to the age of 21.

Foster parents serve an important role in each child’s life. There continues to be a need for additional foster parents in Noble County. Too often children have to be placed in a foster home outside of Noble County, making it increasingly difficult for social workers to provide services to the child, foster family, and birth family. Noble County foster children are placed only in homes certified by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Foster Parent Eligibility Requirements

If you have specific questions regarding foster parenting in Noble County, please call our foster care coordinators at 740-732-2392.

General Requirements

You may apply to become a licensed foster parent through Noble County JFS if you:

• Are at least 18 years of age.
• Single or married, with no change in marital status for at least one year.
• Able to provide proof of sufficient income to meet the needs of the household.
• Complete BCII, FBI, and Children Services background checks with no prohibited offenses.
• Ensure children are able to attend all scheduled appointments and visitations.
• Provide a safe, clean, and healthy home for a child.
• Complete preservice training.

Training Information

Prior to applying to become a foster or adoptive parent through Noble County JFS, families must complete preservice training as developed by the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program.

Home Study

A home study consists of a series of interviews which helps to evaluate if foster parenting is right for you and your family, helps NCJFS get to know you, as well as evaluate what type of children would fit best into your family.

Adoption

Making the decision to become an adoptive parent is emotional, but the outcome is incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. Adoption is a legal process that creates a lifelong relationship between a parent and child. Once the adoption of a child is approved by a court, the adoptive parents will receive an adoption decree and birth certificate, acknowledging that the child is a legal family member with all the right and responsibilities of a birth child.

Adoptive Parent Eligibility Requirements

If you have questions regarding adoption in Noble County, please call our adoption assessors at 740-732-2392.

General Requirements for Adoptive Families:

You may apply to become an approved adoptive family through Noble County JFS if you:

• Are at least 18 years of age.
• Single or married, with no change in marital status for at least one year.
• Able to provide proof of sufficient income to meet the needs of the household.
• Complete BCII, FBI, and Children Service Background Checks with no prohibitive offenses.
• Ensure children are able to attend all scheduled appointments and visitations and have a clean and safe home.
• Provide a safe and healthy home for a child.
• Complete pre-service Training.

Pre-Service Training

Prior to applying to become a foster or adoptive parent through Noble County JFS, families must complete pre-service Training as developed by the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program.

Home Study

Applications to become licensed foster / adoptive parents will be handed out after completion of pre-service training. Once an application is received by the Agency, a worker will be assigned to work with your family to complete a home study. A home study consist of a series of interviews which helps to evaluate if adoption is right for you and your family, helps the Agency get to know you as well as evaluate what type of children would fit best into your family.

To inquire about adoption in Noble County, call 740-732-2392.

Ohio Adoption Guide
Ohio Adoption Subsidies

Noble County Job & Family Services is a proud partner of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® program, which is the signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and establishes innovative co-investment partnerships with states to support the hiring of adoption recruiters who implement an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model. This model has been proven to be up to three times more effective at finding permanent homes for children who have been lingering in foster care the longest.

Learn more at https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/our-programs/wendys-wonderful-kids/

If you are looking to adopt, many employers offer adoption benefits. If you employer doesn’t offer adoption benefits, consider sharing this adoption benefits toolkit, which could help them create new policies.

Kinship Care

Kinship care is the full-time nurturing and protection of a child by relatives, or any other adult who has a kinship bond, or long standing relationship with a child and their family. Kinship care allows families to ensure the children are safe and have a sense of belonging that maintains family connections. It is a commitment that involves being an active member of a professional team, working with Children Services, reuniting children with their parents, and to help the children achieve permanency.

Eligibility Requirements

Kinship families do not have to be involved with Children Services to be eligible for kinship services. If you have specific questions regarding kinship care in Noble County, please contact one of the Children Services caseworkers at 740-732-2392. Kinship providers must meet many of the same requirements as foster or adoptive parents.

Kinship providers must:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• No change in marital status over the past year.
• Provide proof of sufficient income to meet the needs of the household.
• Complete BCII, FBI, and Children Services background checks with no prohibitive offenses.
• Ensure children are able to attend all scheduled appointments and visitations.
• Provide a safe and healthy home for a child.

Resources

Ohio Works First (OWF) Child Only Cash Assistance – Relatives and caregivers with legal custody/guardianship of a child could be eligible for OWF Child Only Cash Assistance. Please call 1-844-640-6446 to apply.

Kinship Prevention, Retention & Contingency (PRC) – NCJFS provides support for kinship families through the PRC program. Support is available for housing, training, family building activities, transportation, child care, respite, and other items necessary to care for a kin child. Please contact one of the Children Services caseworkers at 740-732-2392 for more information.

Kinship Caregiver Program (KCP) – Provides family stabilization and caregiving assistance for kinship caregivers. Stabilization funding can help pay for incidental costs incurred when beginning to care for a child unexpectedly. Caregiving funding can be provided as a reimbursement for child caring services.

• ODJFS Programs Supporting Kinship Caregivers
• Office for Children and Families – Kinship Care
• Ohio Grandparent/Kinship Coalition

Foster Care Frequently Asked Questions

Q: HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENT?

Foster parents need to be at least 18 years old.

Q: DO YOU HAVE TO BE MARRIED TO BE A FOSTER PARENT?

No, you can be legally married or single, as long as there has been no change in marital status for at least one year.

Q: CAN YOU HAVE A FULL TIME JOB AND STILL BE A FOSTER PARENT?

Yes, we have foster parents who are homemakers, who work part-time, and who work full-time. As long as your job allows you flexibility for things like appointments for the children in your home and meetings with the agency staff, you can work full-time.

Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENT?

To become a foster parent, you will need to complete classroom training (this is called preservice training) and a family homestudy.

Q: WHAT IS A FOSTER CARE HOMESTUDY?

The homestudy process consists of thorough interviews of family members, paperwork, background checks, and home safety checks. The purpose of the homestudy is to determine whether fostering will work for your family, and if so, what types and ages of foster children would work best with your family.

Q: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENT?

The preservice training sessions are offered a few times a year and applicants can schedule those at times that work best for their family. Once it has been initiated, the homestudy process should be completed within 90-180 days, depending on the number of families being studied.

Q: WHERE CAN I GET MORE EXTENSIVE INFORMATION ON FOSTER CARE IN THE STATE OF OHIO?

You can learn more about foster care here: https://fosterandadopt.jfs.ohio.gov/home.